Brief History

You came to me stoically, all white
turtleneck and boat shoes, ennobled
by real beliefs and crisp logical talk.
You let me be superior to you in
beauty and in mind; I needed that.
Against my cynical backdrop, we
entered love's zone, propelled along
by unseen forces, our bodies turning
in an eerie dance.

After the neutral beauty of lovers,
we became man, wife. Child: he came
later, sealing our transformation.
I do what he demands, what you expect,
what life insists I do. In this old
walled structure, I envy even the dog.
Her brown eyes bulging, she slurps
at the water of freedom. I served
it in her plastic bowl at four o'clock.